James was up for work so the two of us hired a boat at Tropical Boat Hire. They were great!
Unfortunately the fishing was not. I got a 40cm barra which was the best for the day. Plus a catfish (site cast at a barra and caught that!) or three. James got 3 small cod, a small queenie and some catfish and sharks on bait.
It was a very long time on the water for very little fish.
We went down to Litchfield for a single night. Stayed at Litchfield Tourist Park in a cabin, $270 a night but it was very nice and Eddie loved it. The first day we went to our picnic spot near Florence, there were people in the main area but otherwise it went okay. Eddie didn’t like it at first but was soon floating Maggie’s shoes down the stream (where I would catch them) with glee.
That night we went back and had a few beers and a dip in the pool before microwave lasagna. The kids were playing together and loving it.
The next morning after some lovely bacon and egg muffins we went to Buley Rockholes – Maggie’s favourite – so we could jump off. It was a great plan, by the time we left the younger crowd with their stocked eskies were arriving. The 9-1130 trip really went well. After a picnic (and Dad driving up and down while everyone slept) we went to Walker Creek. We tried for the walk but it was too far – however the picnic spot next to the bridge was amazing. It was Eddie’s favourite and I think it will become our favourite soon.
Went off the beach today for a bluewater fishing charter. I was hoping to go barra but couldn’t get onboard anywhere, it appears most people book them as part of a group, not individually.
The day was pretty good, I would have caught 20 keepers, most of which were sweetlip (tricky snapper).
My best fish was an 80cm queenie. Great fun to land. But a much smaller trevelly was nearly as good.
The highlight of the story was one of the blokes pulling up an albino shark. Or perhaps the antics of the young fella on board who absolutely wrote himself off – kept us laughing anyway.
Found a guy online (Shane) who had been having car trouble but was keen on getting his boat out. The tides weren’t great for shoal bay but we decided to give it a shot anyway and fish the low. However we got nothing! Nor did any of the other boats we spoke to. Its definitely easier to fish the high. We were in at 6am and back at 10am. Ah well, still a nice morning.
Mike, Kate and myself went down to Saltwater Arm today but it was neap tides with barely any movement. We were fairly certain that the lures would struggle – and we worked hard all day not to get anything. We were hopeful the Jewfish would come on, Kate got one around 30-40cm so that was nice. The boat near us were smashing the blue salmon. An easy day, a quiet day, and lesson learnt about the tides.